Installing the Honda Music Link - iPod Adaptor

I've just completed the install. It took about 1.5 hours all in.
Here are the highpoints.

I was installing on a RTL with Navi, so the process may be slightly different to other models.
I found that I did not need to completely remove the glovebox as directed. You can just let it hang down and drill the hole for the iPod cable in place. The main thing that stopped me anyway was the fact that the mounting points (pictures 2 & 3) are completely different to the illustration in the installation guide.
Before disconnecting the battery, make sure the parking brake is on, and move the gear shift into 1st. This will make it easier to remove the dash board, as will lowering the steering wheel.
The install itself is pretty much then as per the instructions.
In order, the pictures show:
The full kit - I received seperate quick guides for every Honda vehicle.
The glovebox mounting x 2
The audio unit partially unhooked - what a mess! I took the photo partially so I would know how to put it back together.
The audio unit to Music Link cable. Note it's attached to the sunlight sensor harness as directed.
The 'Y' adaptor with one connector padded.
The 'Y' adaptor again, strapped to the vehicle harness.
The Music Link to iPod cable with padding added to prevent rattles.
Hole drilled in back of glovebox to route cable.
Din sockets on the Music Link box. It's labelled Radio and iPod. Both dins are identical.
Here's where I goofed. I forgot to take any pictures of the whole thing connected and strapped into place behind the glovebox. Sorry! I may take it apart again if time allows.

The initial display on the Nav unit is very disappointed. Just the word "Extension" in huge letters. The sound is great though. I'm just installing the Honda software now to see if that adds any functionality. My PC is currently reading out all the song titles and artists names. Sounds very odd.

More pictures:

Even more pictures

I can already get the NAV display to say Extention when I plug my iPod into my AUX jack. Why would I want to go through all this and pay the money and not get more control and info. I hope there's more to it than what's being posted.

Well, so far I'm either confused or very disappointed with the Navi integration, as it appears to be non-existent. There is no display of any information on the screen at all. The voice prompts are laughable. For an artist search you get A<3 second pause>B<3 second pause>C<3 second pause>...etc etc. I hope you don't listen to ZZ Top a lot:p

Thanks for the detailed write-up and the pictures.

I will be spending my money on something else.

Well, i don't have Navi in my RTL, does it sound good and recharges the ipod? I'm don't really care for display, just able to play and hook up my ipod. So to your opinion with out a navi, is it work getting, does the steering wheel controls work?

I can already get the NAV display to say Extention when I plug my iPod into my AUX jack. Why would I want to go through all this and pay the money and not get more control and info. I hope there's more to it than what's being posted.

I'm with you on this one, Truckin'. Sounds like a waste. What a disappointment. Might be nice for people who don't have the aux jack, I reckon, but you'd think that they would've at least pumped out the song & artist titles to the display... that (plus keeping the thing charged, and the ability to advance songs, and keeping the thing hidden in the glove box...) was what I really wanted. *sigh*

Thanks, Lingered_I and drdk, for taking the plunge, installing it, and reporting back. I'm sorry it has turned out to be such a joke. :(

For those of you who are simply plugging your iPod into the AUX jack, what are you using to make the connection? Was there a suitable cable provide with your iPod or did you have to buy an accessory from Apple?

For those of you who are simply plugging your iPod into the AUX jack, what are you using to make the connection? Was there a suitable cable provide with your iPod or did you have to buy an accessory from Apple?
I just use a 6' mini stereo patch cord from Radio shack..best buy has them as well

Well, i don't have Navi in my RTL, does it sound good and recharges the ipod? I'm don't really care for display, just able to play and hook up my ipod. So to your opinion with out a navi, is it work getting, does the steering wheel controls work?
I think you're missing something very important here: the Ipod's click-wheel is disabled while attached to the system. Your Ipod navigation choices are limited to the voice system or scrolling through a description-less list of letters and numbers. You will not see the artist, album title, or song title at all. This should make the Music Link a complete waste of $200 for 99% of people. Maybe Ipod Shuffle owners who already can't see the artist/title info won't care.

I gave up on this after the first report yesterday and ordered myself the PIE HON03/PC-POD auxillary input unit. This way I'll be able to use my Ipod's controls. Putting up with this joke of a system isn't worth getting the ability to charge your Ipod.

I'm starting to figure out the controls now, and I think that Alpine/Honda missed a key point with their design. Everything they have done seems to assume that you know what's on your iPod and will nearly always look for a specific Artist or Album. There are the shuffle functions of course, but there's nothing that let's you quickly "scroll" through the entire content and come across something you forgot you had and would like to listen to. Listening to the robotic voice read the alphabet, artist name or album titles to you is a little monotonous, but I think I will get used to it. I'm going to remove the "don't waste your money" comment from my original posting as it was a little kneejerk in nature and a reaction to my disappointment at the lack of display functions. Maybe I expected too much. Is it a big step up from the Aux socket for those that have one? It charges your iPod and you can keep your iPod locked away in the glovebox and forget about it until you want to load more songs or carry it around with you but I suppose the big plus is that you can control the iPod without taking your eyes off the road, albiet in not a very efficient manner.

Hey Lingered_I, thanks for the update...

I'm wondering if Honda and Apple have just been slow about updating the software that gets loaded onto the iPod (they just put in basic features to start). It's possible that future software releases might enable displaying song title & artist info, at the very least. Being in the software industry, I could totally imagine how they pushed to get just the basics out the door, and will update the software in future releases.

and will update the software in future releases.
Yours for 3 easy payments of $29.97 but if you order now we'll make the 1st payment for you. Offer not available in states that border another country or a major body of water.

Hey Lingered_I, thanks for the update...

I'm wondering if Honda and Apple have just been slow about updating the software that gets loaded onto the iPod (they just put in basic features to start). It's possible that future software releases might enable displaying song title & artist info, at the very least. Being in the software industry, I could totally imagine how they pushed to get just the basics out the door, and will update the software in future releases.
Possibly, but I think they just went with the one size fits all approach. The percentage of owners with navigation, across all Honda models, is small, so not much bang for the development buck.

Possibly, but I think they just went with the one size fits all approach. The percentage of owners with navigation, across all Honda models, is small, so not much bang for the development buck.

Well, remember that displaying that the song title & artist info would not be limited to Nav models -- this information could also be displayed on the radio's screen. I'm just sayin', is all.

(mayfielh, oh ye of little faith!)

(mayfielh, oh ye of little faith!)

I used to work for MS nothing's free unless we screwed it up to begin with.

Unless, of course we were trying to put a smaller competitor out of business.

I used to work for MS nothing's free unless we screwed it up to begin with.

Unless, of course we were trying to put a smaller competitor out of business.

I think the download of the Honda software for the iPod is currently free, though, right? I know what you're saying tho'... some things are free, but not when we can establish a monopoly and charge people lots of $$. MS and Apple are both guilty of this, to varying degrees! :D

Possibly, but I think they just went with the one size fits all approach. The percentage of owners with navigation, across all Honda models, is small, so not much bang for the development buck.

My guess is this was more an afterthought and not part of the original design of the head unit. I don't have actual data to back this up but judging by the installation pictures it looks like they simply have the iPod emulate an external CD changer using the connector that was probably already part of the head unit. I imagine someone came up with the idea to use the CD changer interface on the head unit as the "iPod" interface after the fact.

As I mentioned in the other post on this adapter, there are units on the market from Kenwood/PhatNoise that do exactly this (replace a CD changer with a 20GB mp3 player) using this type of an interface. As you can imagine this approach is somewhat limited, particularly when it comes to the transfer of information such as text. They rely on the audio stored on the player (i.e. the TTS tracks that are stored on the iPod) to "announce" the song info since the intelligence isn't there in the head unit. You are still basically limited to "next" & "prev" type commands although you can apply them to artist/genre/playlist/ using the disk buttons on the head unit first.

Regarding the "robotic" voice, one thing the Kenwood/Phatnoise folks did was provide a better voice synthesizer for generating the info/files. When they switched to the "Natural Voices" (from AT&T) text to speech engine the voice prompts produced became "real" and not robotic. Perhaps someone can figure a way to get the Honda/iPod software to use this text to speech engine to create files?

My guess is this will forever be limited to the CD changer like controls which are available and can maybe hope for improvements in the way they're actually implemented.

Hey Lingered_I, thanks for the update...

I'm wondering if Honda and Apple have just been slow about updating the software that gets loaded onto the iPod (they just put in basic features to start). It's possible that future software releases might enable displaying song title & artist info, at the very least. Being in the software industry, I could totally imagine how they pushed to get just the basics out the door, and will update the software in future releases.
I would guess that the answer lies not with Honda or Apple but with what the screen and the firmware of the head unit is capable of. From what I see, that's not much. They're clearly created to display certain information and that is all, and that's why the track number is "6 58" rather than "Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love." If the capability were there, they'd have utilized it. This Music Link idea was a bold step to take, but it's clear that they are going about it backwards. I'd look to the next model updates for a serious Ipod/DAP integration with a much more advanced head unit. It's just not going to happen with the current models.

and also remember that is why the head unit doesnt display title/track info for MP3's, or for that matter even read MP3 disks...:mad:

for those that are interested the complete operating instructions:

http://www.HandA-Accessories.com/musiclink1.pdf

It shows the ipods that will work with it as well as how the controls work.

-Trevor

Wow, how anti-climactic. Thanks for the updates, the HK system is looking pretty good right about now.

I just got my iPod adaptor from College Hills Honda. I'm wondering if I got the right parts. When I look at their web page, it says the adapter for an RTL with NAVI is part# 6161. That number is not on my packages. I got 2 bags and a box. The bags are:

Bus Harn 2Port M5S24
08A31-OF1-000

08A28-1H1-800

The box says:
08A28-1H1-100

Did I get the right parts?

Thanks!

WOW...I am kinda bummed about it....I have decided to wait...I called the dealer cancelled my appt and told them I am going to wait to see your guys review. Well I think I am just going to countinue using my AUX jack seems like the only benifit of the other hook up is it re-charges it. I can live with out that for sure....I guess we can wait and see what comes down the road. I more interested in the Nav Trip Computer and other...shall we say adjustments you guys have found for it. Looks like my next purchase will be the roll top cover...LOOKS AWESOME!!!

PS. My friend in Cali has a 2005 BMW mini-cooper and he had the Ipod kit put in from the BMW dealership...it goes in the glove box and he can control it from the stearing wheel controls and also see whats playing on the radio display...I think Apple gave BMW the software/hardware to do it....I am suprised Honda has not asked for it also.

The content of the box is the same for everyone. It contains the Music Link box, the head unit to box cable, the box to iPod cable, a CD, the Quick Guides and some small ties and rubber pads. In addition, for the Ridgeline you should have a bag containing some long ties and a rubber shroud. For the Navi model you should also have a 2nd bag containing the 'Y' cable.

Thanks Lingered I and H&A. I was looking forward to this but thanks to your perspectives, I can't justify it. Notwithstanding the $$, I am disappointed in the lack of functionality.


It appears that that you need a 4th gen IPOD.
Click wheel doesn't work?
Steering wheel controls?
Must use disk controls on dash?
Maybe need to be stricly married to I-Tunes (what if you use Real Player?)

Hopefully someone will tell me I am wrong, but based on my read of the music link documentation, I fear Honda & Apple missed the boat. Are there other altenatives? I don't want to go the FM transmitter route

I fear Honda & Apple missed the boat.
Hmm http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodyourcar/ they still don't know anything about it.

IMHO Honda had to deal with getting a vanilla version out there that could cross-platform with Navi and non-Navi units and still deliver a charging/working Ipod. However, I suspect we'll see changes in the Ridgeline HU's before we see a change to the pseudo adapter unfortunately. My fears are somewhat confirmed that Honda just wanted ability to say 'an entire fleet of vehicles with ipod functionality' , unfortunately functionality is even overdoing it I think. It's announcing track id's? ...that just sounds painful.


Unfortunately our head units really aren't all that impressive for a 2006 model vehicle to start with, I was hoping the Ipod would at least coax something more from them but apparently not. Lingered and others that have gone down this path I do appreciate your guiding inputs on this.


Just sucks I bought my Kensington Aerielle-enabled FM adapter so I can use it 'until the Honda adaptor comes out' and now it looks like I got the better end of the deal. On the plus side - this is the only fm mod I'd recommend to anyone, and if it means seeing my playlists instead of memorizing them or listening to them...I'd guess I'm now one of those hacks I rag on for being cheap and lazy :D

So, if you do have a 4th generation iPOD (I have a new Nano), then this should work (albeit not very elegant)?

I think you're missing something very important here: the Ipod's click-wheel is disabled while attached to the system. Your Ipod navigation choices are limited to the voice system or scrolling through a description-less list of letters and numbers. You will not see the artist, album title, or song title at all. This should make the Music Link a complete waste of $200 for 99% of people. Maybe Ipod Shuffle owners who already can't see the artist/title info won't care.

I gave up on this after the first report yesterday and ordered myself the PIE HON03/PC-POD auxillary input unit. This way I'll be able to use my Ipod's controls. Putting up with this joke of a system isn't worth getting the ability to charge your Ipod.
oh snatch...thanx for the info. i guess my pursuit to get one will be over this momment. if the imusic cost that much, it might as well get the mp3 player that they are selling or hopefully someone designs something better or have apple/honda designe a new imusic link Generation 2 type connection. I thought you can see atleast the tracks, folder, music track number on the stereo screen like a standard CD playing. That sucks, good thing i didn't get one. i was going to get one this weekend after the autoshow in LA.

It appears that that you need a 4th gen IPOD.
Click wheel doesn't work?
Steering wheel controls?
Must use disk controls on dash?
Maybe need to be stricly married to I-Tunes (what if you use Real Player?)


We tried it with a 3rd generation ipod and the software locked up when installing the TTS program.

The click wheel doesn't work once its connected to the car.

On the Odyssey we installed it in we were able to stop its voice prompts and select a song and move forward and back on the songs with the steering wheel control. To get the voice prompts going again to search for songs required using the buttons on the radio itself.

The software only works with i-tunes, and it has to be a recent version of itunes or it will lock up also.

-Trevor

On the Odyssey we installed it in we were able to stop its voice prompts and select a song and move forward and back on the songs with the steering wheel control. To get the voice prompts going again to search for songs required using the buttons on the radio itself.


Hey Trevor, do you think this behavior should be the same in the RL? Cuz it doesn't sound like it is (sounds like you can only control volume, which considering that the other steering wheel controls for the radio are "mode" and "channel", I guess that makes sense...). Does the Odyssey have a steering wheel control for going forward & back tracks? Cuz the RL doesn't (channel changes which CD is playing, not which track, I believe).

the Odyssey has volume, mode and channel up and down on the steering wheel. The channel up and down scrolled through the songs. Unfortunately if held down it didn't do the function of switching back into the voice mode for scanning through with the voice prompts. That has to be done through the buttons on the radio.

On a side note, I still haven't heard any official word as to why they don't have the radio display the information but two of our big ipod fans here seem to actually like the setup (although they agree it could be a lot better). My guess is that Honda's intention was to make it safer (just a guess). From what I've seen they are very concerned with all aspects of road safety. They have crash test dummy pedestrians which led them to move the hood higher in the accord so if a pedestrian gets hit the hood can absorb more of the impact before it hits the engine which won't absorb any of the impact. They don't offer brush guards because of reports that they mangle pedestrians when they are hit. So my guess is that it was an effort to help keep drivers eyes on the road rather than on a screen watching thousands of songs scroll by.

-Trevor

Does the Odyssey have a steering wheel control for going forward & back tracks? Cuz the RL doesn't (channel changes which CD is playing, not which track, I believe).
Uh, yes it does! :) You might want to check that again - the "channel" buttons select the next and previous tracks, and you must use the CD player buttons to select a different disc.

Does anyone have these same issues with an iPod Classic in their 2006 Ridgeline?